In women's unbelted garments as manufactured and sold, e.g., skirts and slacks, usually inadequate provision is made for a desired combination of vertical rigidity and lateral comfort within the waist band interface. Consequently the waist band becomes wrinkled, rolled, crimped, etc., regardless of the shape of the wearer, viz., whether the woman has a less than average, average or greater than average waist measurement. This wrinkling/rolling/crimping, etc., detracts from the appearance of the garment while it is being worn and makes it difficult to preserve a freshly pressed appearance in the skirt or pair of slacks as it is being worn.
The prior art has provided various forms of waist bands in various men's and women's garments, but none of the prior art accomplishes the combination of advantages obtained by the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 717,159 issued to F. E. Bush discloses a shirring band for skirts. The band is made of two pieces, the final portions of which are joined, utilizing a hook and eye arrangement to form interlocking members having lateral rigidity. The opposite ends of the sections are provided with oppositely projecting spurs which are preferably hook-shaped and are adapted to interlock with suitable eyelets secured to the inner wall of the skirt band. It seems clear that the shirring band of the Bush patent must be tailor-made to the waist of the wearer and does not accommodate change in waist measurement as would occur after weight loss. Moreover, it does not appear that it can be removed readily for desired garment dry cleaning, washing, etc., and then reinserted without difficulty.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,194,242 to A. Marchisella is directed to anti-roll stays for elastic waist bands of girdles, etc. In the Marchisella patent, a pair of stays 10 at opposed locations are attached to tunnel 22 around marginal portions only of the circumference of the girdle waist band to apply moderate pressure at the stays. Moreover, these girdle stays 10 are stated to be about 6 to 12 inches long by about one-half to one inch wide and leave substantial areas of no vertical reinforcement particularly in the front of the girdle waist area. The front of the garment is the area where roll-up is more likely to occur. Since the pair of stays 10 are sewn into the waist band area of the girdle to mechanically anchor said stays therein, they are difficult to remove. Additionally these stays have their upper and lower edges narrower in cross-section that their their middle thickness viz., are not of uniform thickness and hence more expensive to manufacture when made in such configuration.
U.S. Pat. No. 835,192, issued to A. W. Logan, is directed to a continuous thin metallic strip or band, much in the nature of a belt, for men's trousers to prevent sagging thereof. The belt must apparently be tailor-made to the waist measurement of the wearer inasmuch as the waist band hook 6 is secured by insertion into widened end vertical slot 3 and thus extending within bent portion 4. Also it is apparent that the Logan device requires loops 10 to extend up at least from the top of stiffening band 1 and through lining 8. Such loops would detract from the continuity of ladies garments, e.g., the skirt or slack waist bands and could prove unsightly.
U.S. Pats. Nos. 2,099,356 and 2,166,333 are both issued to K. Von Daeniken. These patents are directed to springy steel lapel stays for coats to keep the lapels from wrinkling and becoming unsightly. In each of these patents, the strip is held against lateral movement by a barb 3, which must pierce fabric damaging same. Moreover such piercing could prove painful to the wearer if such device were attempted to be utilized in a thin skirt or slacks waist band.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,042,932 issued to M. Eppy is directd to two, e.g. vinyl resin, strips inserted in pockets in the front portion only of garments. The individual pockets are closed, e.g., by snap fasteners and hence do not communicate with one another. These pockets terminate short of the hip portion of the garment with which they are used so no smooth, continuous vertical support of the garment's substantially entire waistband area is disclosed, possible or intended by the Eppy patent.
U.S. Pat. No. 2.946,064 issued to C. Dieterle is directed to a detachable belt, particularly suitable for corpulent persons, positioned in such a way that the elastic strap 1 is situated at the level of the wearers' hips. This strap is provided at one end with a hook 2 and the other end carries two clasps 3. The belt is formed of two widened side portions, or strips, 5 sewn to a narrower stiffening strap 1 and covered by a satinette lining 7. One vertical stiffening strip 9 is located at the rear portion only of each widened portion 5. Thus the Dieterle belt is not capable of providing vertical rigidity around substantially the entire waist band area of a garment. The inner face of the elastic strap 1 can carry a strip of rubber intended to adhere to the underclothes of the person wearing the belt.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,614,965 issued to M. Margolith is directed to a waistband for (men's) trousers which occupies selected portions (areas) of the guiding space of the trousers waist band area so that the belt, preferably of canvas having a roughened surface, is passed out of these guiding space areas through slits 25 and lie exposed along the interior of the waist band at the exposed areas which is stated by the patentee to increase the binding qualities of the canvas belt with respect to the wearer's waist without materially affecting the outside contour of the waist band. It is clear that utilization of the Margolith device requires a good deal of skilled stitch work using separate linings with many layers of stitching to occupy selected portions of trouser waist band portions and using spaced transverse slits to define separate exposed and non-exposed areas in conjunction with canvas stiffening strips 13 and 14 having two portions. The waist binding qualities of the exposed interior roughened canvas surfaces of the Margolith canvas belt and interior portions of canvas stiffening strips 13 and 14 fail to compare with the comfortable vertical support along the waist band's substantially entire length as provided by this invention to women's garments with which it is used.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,584,765 issued to M. G. Gillette is directed to a suspender attaching means comprising an inner hip engaging stiff heavy fabric, e.g., heavy canvas, band 9 and a lower trouser lining 10 of relatively soft materials. The band 9 is preferably held in position by stitching 12. This suspender attaching means can be used in conjunction with a conventional belt 7 which is positioned interiorly of the trousers about the hip engaging portion of the trousers with the ends of the belt 7 passing through slits 4 and 5 and being united by buckle 8. The major portion of the belt may thus be hidden from outside view while it is interiorly carried by flaps 3 or a continous strip extending around the inner side of the hip engaging portion of the trousers to form a housing for the belt. The hip belt 7 may be used without the use of suspenders and vice versa. Either way Gillette fails to provide vertical support along the waist band area in the way provided by the present invention. Whether the hip belt 7 is worn or not, the Gillette structure incorporates spaced metallic eyes or riveted sockets 13 to provide means for attaching suspender tabs 14 carrying metallic hooks 15 adapted to spring into eye or socket 13 at separated locations along nonflexible band 9.